MULBERRY, Fla. — Officials say an unknown amount of process water could have been released to the environment after data indicates a potential liner tear occurred last week at an active phosphogypsum stack facility in Polk County.
The incident occurred on Oct. 20 at the Mosaic New Wales facility located in Mulberry on Highway 640 West.
The facility is an area of the stack with no active ponded water storage or active phosphogypsum stacking activities, but the potential liner tear could impact the environment in the county, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said in a news release.
Also, the potential liner tear "lies within the zone of capture of the facility's recovery well system," the news release mentions.
Although it has not yet been confirmed, this is not the first time a possible liner tear was reported at the same facility.
Back in April of 2022, the Florida DEP investigated the same incident underneath one of the gypsum stacks.
The property has a history of issues, including a massive sinkhole that opened in 2016 allowing more than 200 million gallons of contaminated water to seep into Florida’s aquifer.
Mosaic officials said at the time that if there is a tear, the issue would be from process water that’s already been absorbed into the gypsum, not the holding pond that sits on top of the stack. And then there should be no offsite impact on groundwater because their recovery well system is still operating.
